I have been traveling the world as a journalist and passionate lover of all things fun for 20 years. I have had weekly columns in USA Today and Investors Business Daily, published thousands of articles in leading magazines from Playboy to Popular Science, and am the author of Getting Into Guinness. I am the Contributing Travel Editor for Cigar Aficionado Magazine, the restaurant columnist for USAToday.com, and am a co-founder of TheAPosition.com, the leading golf travel website. I love every kind of travel, active, cultural and leisurely, and my special areas of expertise are luxury hotels and resorts, golf, skiing, food, wine and spirits. I tweet @TravelFoodGuy

Maker's Mark bourbon has raised controversy with its plan to add water and remove alcohol. Photo: Wikipedia

Until last week, Maker’s Mark Kentucky bourbon, with its trademark bottle sealed in dripping red wax, was a marketing poster child, the Apple of the bourbon world, with a loyal following of devout fans who order the stuff reflexively and would rarely consider anything else. Even the die-hard Scotch drinkers I know fall back on Maker’s Mark as their top choice when drinking bourbon. I love the stuff, and its rich smooth taste has long cut across the stern taste divides among whiskey drinkers, seemingly pleasing everyone.

That may all be in the past. Parent company Beam, Inc., the nation’s second largest distillery group, either just pulled off a financial coup which will enhance their bottom line handsomely after the dust settles, as some predict, or pulled a “New Coke,” and severely damaged the venerable brand.

Only time will tell, but Maker’s Mark fans aren’t wasting any time in their vehement and outspoken opposition. I started getting emails from friends asking if it was true and expressing outrage the day the story hit the streets. One described the Maker’s Mark release as “an April fool’s joke, or something you’d read in the Onion.”

The scandal? An announcement by Maker’s Mark that due to the overwhelming popularity and growth in the bourbon sector, it cannot currently make its whiskey fast enough to meet demand, so it is making a major change. Given that we live in a mostly free market, an economist would tell you the natural thing would be to increase the price, which is what usually happens to commodities when demand outstrips supply. I wondered why this was not the case until a bourbon loving friend pointed out that Beam also owns more expensive Knob Creek bourbon and probably does not want to risk cannibalizing sales at the higher price point, since they have a carefully price tiered portfolio.

The answer? Dilution.

It takes over six years to make a batch of Maker’s Mark, so the fastest way to increase current supply is to water down what they have on hand. They have tinkered with the recipe and when the new bottles hit store shelves next month, they will have dropped the alcohol content by 6 proof, from 90, which it has been for over half a century, to 84. While this is being described by Maker’s as a 3% drop in alcohol (6 proof = 3%), Time.com did the math and going from 45% to 42% actually means a reduction of almost 7% from the 45% alcohol content. Time.com also noted that Maker’s Mark, owned by distilling giant Beam, Inc., moved about a million cases of its bourbon last year. The company insists that after careful taste testing, no one will be able to tell the difference and it will taste exactly the same, but given some of the super tasters I have met through my work in the wine and spirits world, I find it virtually impossible that such a change in alcohol content can go unnoticed, especially with no additives to compensate. After all, loyal fans of blended Scotch whiskies, which are made differently every year but are always supposed to taste exactly the same, often complain often over seemingly imperceptible changes, and even changes in the water used.

One of the ways the company has grown its fierce loyalty is through a sort of proto-social media program of enlisting fans as “Maker’s Mark Ambassadors.” Here is the note from Maker’s Mark COO Rob Samuels and his father, Chairman Emeritus Bill Samuels, Jr. that went out last week to the ambassadors:

“Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores. Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.

We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.

We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago. We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference. Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.

In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.”

Except that’s what many vocal fans, taking to Facebook and Twitter, have said they are doing, despite not having tasted it yet. Bartenders have also expressed concern, given that so many customers drink only Maker’s Mark, and often drink it neat, where any taste difference is much more likely to be noticed.

The premium Maker's 46, which I really like, remains unchanged.

My friend Jim Martel is a longtime Maker’s Mark purist and has been a brand ambassador since 2001 – twelve years ago. He immediately took to angry Facebook ranting, so I contacted him, and here is what he had to say:

“This is hella lame. My favorite bourbon is being watered down so they can ‘meet market demand.’ In other words, so Beam, Inc. can fatten their wallets a little more. I’ll help lower their demand by not buying any more.

This reeks of hypocrisy too, since I remember how Makers flipped Jack Daniels a bunch of s**t when they lowered their proof years ago, swearing they’d never alter their sacred recipe, or something to that effect. [he posted this link]

I also read that they wouldn’t just raise the price [to meet increased demand] because of the Beam, Inc. product line and where it fits – if they raise it to cost as much as Knob Creek then their product line as a whole will suffer, so instead they’re watering it down – but not lowering the price, of course. Someone asked me if I was going to stock up on the 90 proof before its gone – My reply was, ‘No way, screw them. I’m not buying any more. I am helping them with their demand problem.’

This is why I am switching – I want a bourbon that is bottled to maximize the taste and my enjoyment of it, not to maximize some corporation’s profits. And I’ve been a Maker’s Mark Ambassador since 2001. Buffalo Trace is privately owned and will be my new bourbon of choice. I considered Bulleit too, but they’re owned by Diageo and I’m done with corporate bourbon. I’ll also continue to drink micro-distillery bourbons, like Woodinville, which is pretty damn good.”

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This is definitely a ham-handed way to solve the “problem.” There is a good piece in the latest New Yorker about the Bruichladdich Scotch whisky distillery including how it handled issues with scarcity of its product when they reopened in 2001.

Which brings me to the solution for Makers Mark drinkers: Balvenie Doublewood 12 y.o. single malt scotch with a splash of water on the rocks. (Whenever a Scotch purist tells me the ice is going to dilute my Scotch, I tell them “Its not going to last that long!”)

Several points to make: After viewing the Maker’s FB page, there is confusion over whether this affects Makers 46 – it does not, but it shows you how this whole thing has backfired when other products get brought into the controversy. I know that international demand is part of the reason for the shortage, but I also think 46 had a lot to do with it as well since it is the same product that is used in 46 process. I don’t know if 6 years ago, when they were doing their planning that 46 was on their radar.

Also, Dunn states that Jack Daniels did something similar and it didn’t hurt their sales. I don’t think that’s an apples to apples comparison. I don’t know a whole lot of people who drink Jack neat or on the rocks, but know plenty of people who do that with Makers. Jack isn’t at the same level as Makers and there is more of a connoisseur’s palate w/ Makers. Makers missed a great opportunity to market this shortage the right way. My guess is that they didn’t expect the backlash.

even if we get angry, is there anything we can do? money speaks and corporations listen. I think we’re better off doing our own distilling, that is if everyone has copper whiskey stills. that way, we know what we put in our drinks and we dictate the abv, not market demand.

Jason, I have to disagree on both points. If as you say, money speaks and corporations listen, then yes, there is something consumers can do, which is change their buying habits, just as Coke backpedalled on new Coke because people wouldn’t buy it. And there are more crafts spirits than ever, so while home distilling might be fine for serious hobbyists, I don’t really think it’s the answer for the masses since undoubtedly, some people will end up in the hospital and/or burn their houses down. And unless you drink a huge amount, it’s more expensive than simply buying whiskey. It also usually won’t be as good, and if you want to do it right, it’s going to take 10 plus years before you are drinking anything to rival the good stuff I can buy right now in 2 minutes .

Wow, hard to believe these executives could miss the, um, mark so badly on this one. It may have worked for JD, but as pointed out below, this is a different market than Jack.

Although, I have to say that the last time screwed up and really had way too much to drink (been a few yrs ago), it was with Maker’s Mark. Perhaps I could have benefitted from a little dilution that night…